My Favorite Past-time

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Oops, this should teach me to check the order of play before posting next time, Sharapova's played already (and won 6-2 6-3). From the sound of the forums, looks like it was a so-so match for her, the serve seems to be an issue still and it took her a while to close out the match. But that could just be 1st match nerves, should be better the next one.

So instead of watching her match, this is her Nike Australian Summer series outfit, a pink and black ensemble, I like it, fits her well and it's simple, it adds some much needed athleticism back into Maria's on-court outfits, which at times can get too fashion-y. I'm sure she has something more elaborate planned for the Australian Open itself.

It's a new year and part of my resolutions is to resume blogging again. It is a rather convenient time to do so since the tennis year has started again and the Fall 2011 fashion weeks are coming up soon in February. So not only are there plenty of new tennis gears to be anticipated on the courts, there are a whole slew of new fashion waiting to be walked down the runways of NY, Paris, London, and Milan. As exciting as that is, I struggle to find a topic suitable for a relaunch, a topic that is important but yet fresh enough to kick-start the year of 2011.

So obviously I found a great topic (since you're reading it right now), and it's sustainable fashion. Sustainability is no doubt the future of our world; faced with limited resource and a growing amount of waste, each industry is fighting to march into the frontier of sustainability and fashion is no different. Though the topic itself seems red hot, the actual discussions don't steer too far from innovative material and stays at the surface of technology. Many of them lacks the integration of technology with arts and design, and not to mention the whole culture at large. So it wasn't until now when I came across 132 5. Issey Miyake when I finally see an innovative, inspiring, and artistic rendition of how to do sustainable fashion.

Famed Japanese avant-garde designer Issey Miyake's Reality Lab has created a collection in which 3D structured garments can be folded into two-dimensional shapes with one single piece of fabric called PET, a material generated with chemical recycling by pulverizing, melting, and "spinning" threads out of polyethylene terephthalate.The whole process is created by a computer software which interpret the design and then strategically designates creases and folds on the fabric to enable it to be flattened and reopened into structured shirts, pants, jackets, and single piece dresses.

The technology itself can decipher how to turn a 3D object into a 2D shape by placing folds, which eliminates the need of needles, stitches, and an excess of processing the fabric.

With a single lift, the garment can be "sprung" to life!

The question is, can the 3D dress be easily folded back into its 2D form? Can you sit on it?? Well, practicality often comes second when one is trying to chart the future, right?

The numbers themselves has significance also. 1 represents the single piece of fabric needed for each garment. 3 signifies the 3D shape and 2 represents the ability of the garment to be folded into a two-dimensional shape. The space represents the duration of time between creating the garment and the consumer actually wearing it. And 5 signifies a hope that there will be further incarnations of this initiative in the future.

The beauty of this collection lies in its ability to present art and culture through the modern lenses of technology. So often people talk about the emerging trend of sustainable fashion, but for the movement to really take hold and flourish in the high-fashion realm, merely using recycled material is not enough, it will be demanded from designers to incorporate sustainability in a more integrated manner.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

I've been so busy that writing a NYC follow-up is literally impossible. Good thing I found The Sche Report, an online trends and style forecast blog. I find my style and the blog's style to match seamlessly and in fact, their NYC coverage has been very beneficial.

Obviously I would still go to style.com or WWD if I want to see pictures from the shows, but Sche Report talks about the interesting things and let me know who to focus on.

Check out their Top 5 NYC Spring/Summer collections, I absolutely agree with each one. My favorite is Ohne Titel! And if I can expand the list I would add Prabal Gurung, Mandy Coon, J Mendel, Complex Geometry, Donna Karen, and Calvin Klein Collection...I'm quite a greedy one! There are also many new designers in NY who's taking risk and not being named, would love to see those as well.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

What is a pusher? A pusher can also be called a human backboard, one who doesn't have much power and uses great timing to "stay in the rally" and often only win because the opponent self-destruct. Though it takes great skills and talents in order to become a great "pusher", the fact that their victories depends on other people's "mercy" render little respect for this particular brand of tennis player, and Caroline Wozniacki is...or apparently was such a kind of player.

Wozniacki made headlines at this year's US Open (which is having the women's final today, sans Wozniacki) by beating Maria Sharapova in the fourth round decisively 6-3 6-4. It was a display of power, skills, composure, and tennis wit as she completely outplayed Sharapova from most parts of the court. It was a performance that is worthy of permanently severing any ties she has with the word "pusher".

Most of the tennis world began to jump on the bandwagon soon after and all proclaimed Wozniacki a future champion, the new "it" girl...etc. The best part is, Stella McCartney for Addias, which made my favorite tennis dress this year for Wozniacki at the US Open, is FINALLY getting the attention they deserve by pairing with a player who has the ability to garner that amount of enthusiasm.

Too bad Caroline lost yesterday to Vera Zvonareva in the semi-final. But given her tender age of 20, there are many more years ahead for her to fulfill one of the many accolades bestowed on her this past week.

One of the great thing about Twitter is that you can receive instant status updates from around the world straight to your cell phone. It is a feature that I have enjoyed over the past year since I've joined...until tonight.

I've underestimated the amount of excitement generated by Fashion Night Out and that excitement was relayed to me through 58 text messages from twitter, 58 in the span of 4 hours!!

It is one of the most ridiculous twitter experience I've had so far. The only good thing is perhaps all the buzzing of my phone makes it seem like I am super popular, when in fact I was just one of a million who's being sent cyber space junk.

Other thank that, FNO was amazing in New York, as well as LA with events at Beverly Center, Fred Segal, Kill City, Creature of Comfort, Phillip Lim, Rodeo Drive...etc.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Two posts in one day (or one night) is rare for me now, not to mention 2 posts about the same designer of the same collection in one night. But this is just too good, haha.

In the same show, Christian Siriano showcased his signature feminine style with drama and color. While the designer is still maintaining much of his signature silhouettes, he is also exploring more wearable options such as button downs, a-line skirts, shorts...etc. But enough about the practical, the designer's first love remains dramatic gowns that are destined to be on a red-carpet soon (I even see a legitimate Oscar or Caines film festival gown!!)

Check out the last 4 numbers he chose to close the show today:

He started the finale lightly, with a relatively easygoing flowy gown, great shape, great color, and love the print, it definitely seems more of a resort gown, but spring...resort....same thing

Then he moved onto his signature silhouette, the one that Rihanna endorsed frequently this past season and I won't be surprised to see her wear this. Either that or some starlet on the red carpet of the Globes..OR...some not so chic Hip Hop singer trying to look glam. Not a big fan of this type of gown, b/c it can easily look like two mushroom clouds on the bottom, one would need really good upper body proportion in order to pull this off.

This one is my absolute favorite out of the whole collection. Simply stunning, pretty, and gorgeous. It's not just princess-y, instead it has intricacy and craftsmanship, and showmanship all together. The only thing is I think Siriano often suffer from taste in fabric choice, this gown would look so much more graceful and ethereal if the material for the bodice is a graceful lace or a chic crepe. It is also going to be a difficult gown to pull off, but I do hope to see it at some major film festival. It'll probably not make it to the Oscars since it's too far away, and that is a indeed a pity.

WOW.... I was going to leave it at WOW, but I really need to point out how beautiful is the color, and if a stylist decides to chop off all the top half of the "red foam/madness/whatever you want to call it", then this would make a stunning red-carpet moment.

Shoppers, or more specifically bargain shoppers with a particular passion for amazing sky-high heels, pay attention.

Remember that guy, Christian Siriano, from Project Runway? The outspoken and uber-talented past winner, who's now a reputable designer himself, has partnered up with Payless to create a ranch of affordable heels that does not lack any of Siriano's..um...character. The collection finally made it's first stomp today on the designer's new Spring 2011 runway in NYC!

The collection features super high platform heels that are mostly cage or strappy styles in bright colors and prints. In full Siriano fashion, these heels lack neither drama nor flair; and they are absolutely an instant attention grabber. My favorite is the beige pair on the left. It is so interesting and you can take it from day to night effortlessly while not losing any of the fierceness frequently associate with Christian Siriano.

The best part? Given that these shoes will be sold at Payless, they would probably cost less than $50 each! So brace yourselves ladies, the shoes should land in a Payless store near you starting mid October to early November, don't forget to check it out and perhaps get yourself a pair of what I call "DIVA heels"!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

I am once again mesmerized and tremendously inspired by yet another Chinese inspired gown!

This time around it's actress LI Bingbing, who wore a blush pink strapless fitted gown with red Chinese characters as embellishing detail. I love a great blush pink/red gown (when done right), so romantic and glamorous at the same time.

Li Bingbing looked simply stunning, mostly due to her confidence of wearing her culture with a modern flare. The gown is fitted but has a chiffon overlay, which makes it soft and works well when contrasted with the angular Chinese characters in bold red used as embellishments.

The character itself means blessings, and boy does she has a ton of those on her dress, scattered strategically throughout her hemline and the train. Chinese characters has great angular structure and I think it works great as garment embellishments! It adds drama and intensity without being cheesy (again, when it's done right...).

I might have liked this look even more without the giant character on the right side of the bodice. But it doesn't hurt, I just think it will be even more clean. But it's a stunning gown regardless.

Li Bingbing is also well accessorized. She was sporting Chinese vase and flower inspired diamond earrings and cuffs. The earrings are shaped like a traditional Chinese vase and it's simply stunning, elegant, yet interesting. Overall the glam factor is permissible at a glitzy film festival like Venice, otherwise I would've preferred no cuffs.

Here's a picture of Li with her co-star Corina Lau whose wearing a stunning Versace Fall 2010 electric blue gowns with thigh high splits and multiple cut-outs. Corina probably thought she'd get all the attention for her daring gown, but oh well...the both looked beautiful.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

It's the US Open!! Finally, and of course, to match the electrifying energy of NYC, the tennis stars on both the men's and women's tour usually put on outfits that matches the city's vibe. I wasn't going to write about this until later when more pictures come, but I've noticed something very interesting...

While watching the US Open day 1 highlight, I stumbled upon Azarenka's match and was immediately captivated by her dress.It was simple, yet very well fitted (yes, tennis clothes can be ill-fitted also), and the dress was so simple and elegant. As you can see in the product pic, It's fitted on top with a flair skirt (very feminine), the contour piping on the bodice is perfect for a slimming silhouette and I believe this is the female version of Roger Federer's Navy/White collar stripe polo. Nonetheless, I was surprised to see it on her because it looked like something much better suited for Serena (not to say it didn't look stunning on Victoria).

Long and behold, after some digging around, look what I've found!

It was meant to be Serena's US Open night dress!! And usually she gets exclusives, is this a case of dress stealing?? Don't worry, this only happened because since Serena has announced long before the tournament even started that she would be withdrawing, I guess she was gracious enough (or forced to) let someone else wear it.

I must say, I really like it on Azarenka, I thought it was very flattering and for once she's not wearing something that exposes her longer torso (which screws up her proportion). The higher waist on this dress really elongates her legs and she is trying to add an element of youth by donning the neon headband and shoes (not so sure about this move, bet you Serena would not have made the same choice). Sorry that I can't find a better picture....

Serena and Maria better watch out, with Vika's (that's how Azarenka likes to be called) stars rising and looking this good, someone might be sneaking to share the Nike spotlight very soon...

But yes, all in all, great start, now I need to start getting ready for Venus' and Sharapova's outfit (s).

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About Me

23, aspiring fashion stylist, wannabe tennis pro, the 1% of guys in fashion who're straight, and part of the 99% of individuals who wish they play tennis like the pros. Tennis and fashion is often cross paths, and to quote the Williams Sisters, "You can only play as well as you look", right on!